184 - The Seven Year Itch

    Prior to widespread air conditioning, wives and children vacation in cooler climates for the Summer, leaving men in NYC to continue working in the heat.  A man working in publishing finds himself tempted by a girl who has moved in upstairs for the season, played by Marilyn Monroe.
    This movie is famous primarily for the image of Marilyn's skirt billowing from the subway grate.  That shot exists, but not like it appears in any of the stills.  She's usually shown from around the thigh down.  That isn't the most memorable aspect of the movie either.
    This was directed by Billy Wilder, who also handled Some Like It Hot, which really love.  Both of these movies have similar scripts, in a strange way.  They have a sense of humor, and a style of writing that is very firmly Wilder's work.  What this movie doesn't have is Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis doing spectacular work to carry the whole thing.  Most of this movie is Tom Ewell talking to himself.  He's good, but he's not fantastic.
    What makes this movie interesting is the use of fantasy sequences.  There are a lot of cutaway scenes where we see him playing out a fantasy.  Most of these reach into absurd, or surreal areas.  I wonder how much influence this movie had on the use of this technique.

    There are clear parallels between this and The Apartment, which I think I watched earlier this year.  Both are mostly about infidelity, and they have an ethical lead.  Here, there's something strange about Marilyn's role.  She's almost like a pixie or something.  I can't explain it, but she exists only to force the guy to learn something about himself.
    There's one gag in it that really floored me, and it's near the end.  The guy is trying to distract someone else from the kitchen, since the girl is in there.

"….What blonde in the kitchen?"
"Oh, wouldn't you like to know! Maybe it's Marilyn Monroe!"

Brilliant!